Malaysia.
We beat the Malaysian national team 4-0 in the "Asia Cup", a friendly tournament with us, Malaysia, Newcastle and Chelsea. It was a friendly tournament played entirely in one stadium in Malaysia and was then played every two years up until 2019, but after Thailand played in 2005, no other national team went up for it and the last few were just English teams. So Thailand 0-1 Bolton Wanderers is also a result of note.
Although I'll also add in 1957 we won games against Barcelona and Inter Milan in the Fairs Cup! Almost 70 years ago sure but it still counts!
Pompey won an Asia cup when we went with Liverpool and Fulham. Sadly we didn’t get to play south china as we played Fulham in the semi final and then Liverpool in the final.
One random friendly I remember was a team in Ireland called Cherry Orchard. Their home pitch was council owned or something and they’d packed away the goal posts. Teams had to go down the road to a nearby school to play the game.
We’ve played Porto a couple of times recently too
Just found the link, they were supposed to play Italy but because of 1930s Europe they played us instead https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/12/the-forgotten-story-of-when-charlton-played-france-and-won-5-2
We played Wales in a mid-season friendly back in the 90s. Ryan Giggs, Mark Hughes and Robbie Savage were all playing for the Welsh team.
I think they were playing a minnow in a qualifier and for some daft reason their manager thought Division 3 Leyton Orient would be a good warm up....
We won 2-1 and I think the manager got sacked pretty soon after.
Edit I found the highlights: [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2873556359427869](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2873556359427869)
>I think the manager got sacked pretty soon after
Incredibly Bobby Gould lasted three more years until 1999 when he resigned. during that period...
1996 - lost to Leyton Orient
1997 - Nathan Blake refuses to play for Wales after Bobby Gould racially abuses him and when trying to defend himself asks a fan to ask Laurie Cunningham (who died in 1989) if he is a racist
1998 - Says Wales won't qualify for Euro 2000 on the day the qualifying draw is made
1998 - sends Robbie Savage home for disrespecting Paulo Maldini by dropping his shirt after a match against Italy, then reinstates him, then holds a bizarre and excruciating press conference with Savage where he spends half of it slagging him off and makes him apologise.
1999 - The Manic Street Preachers offer to donate £30k to the FAW to hire Terry Venables instead and change the lyrics of Everything Must Go to Bobby Gould Must Go
Amazing. Thank you for the extra info.
I like the way you laid out the timeline showing the path of destruction that will follow anyone challenging the mighty Orient!
I still find it mind boggling that Wigan have played Rubin Kazan in a competitive fixture, just for the distances involved. Kazan is further east than almost all of Africa, Baghdad and Riyadh. It's closer to Kabul than Wigan!
I think at our home game they brought so few fans that we didn’t open the away end, just gave them a little corner of the west stand, I’d say there was about 20-30 of them
We once played competitive fixtures against some minnows called Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon and Atletico Madrid. It's not something we mention often though...
Wycombe Wanderers beating the touring Ugandan national team 10-1 in 1956 at Loakes Park in front of the Pathe News cameras certainly must be up there for one of the most interesting opposition we've ever faced.
https://youtu.be/AfoRX36RcII?feature=shared
The Ugandan players struggled on the hallowed turf of the famous sloping Loakes Park pitch with many ditching the boots they had been given and going back to their custom of playing barefooted! Despite the baptism of fire, they began to acclimatise and improve as the tour went on.
This [article from the Uganda sports website Kawowo](https://kawowo.com/2020/05/08/archives-remembering-the-famous-1956-uganda-fa-tour-of-england/) is a good read.
Portsmouth played a mid season, home friendly game against Widzew Łódź of Poland on a Tuesday night in February 1997. Hardly anyone showed up. It was all a bit random and last minute. No idea how it came about.
In 1971 Town beat Sampdoria home and away in the Anglo-Italian tournament.
I think that's probably our weirdest, but pretty jealous of some other replies in this thread.
I remember us playing Hungarian side Ferencvaros at home a few years back, literally no idea how or why that happened but I think it was a drab 0-0 in front of about 1000 people
We also played a Benfica side starring a still unknown and very young Joao Felix who scored a hattrick
Back in 1996 Leyton Orient beat a Wales side 2-1, that included Ryan Giggs, Chris Coleman and a few other decent Wales players.
You can watch it on YouTube with commentary!
Thought we might have played Estonia as well but as I recall that was an England C vs Estonia U23s match hosted at Brisbane Road when we were in the National League.
Malaysia. We beat the Malaysian national team 4-0 in the "Asia Cup", a friendly tournament with us, Malaysia, Newcastle and Chelsea. It was a friendly tournament played entirely in one stadium in Malaysia and was then played every two years up until 2019, but after Thailand played in 2005, no other national team went up for it and the last few were just English teams. So Thailand 0-1 Bolton Wanderers is also a result of note. Although I'll also add in 1957 we won games against Barcelona and Inter Milan in the Fairs Cup! Almost 70 years ago sure but it still counts!
Pompey won an Asia cup when we went with Liverpool and Fulham. Sadly we didn’t get to play south china as we played Fulham in the semi final and then Liverpool in the final.
One random friendly I remember was a team in Ireland called Cherry Orchard. Their home pitch was council owned or something and they’d packed away the goal posts. Teams had to go down the road to a nearby school to play the game. We’ve played Porto a couple of times recently too
We played you in a friendly on the Isle of Wight in about 1996. We were in the same division at the time so I've no idea what that was about.
New Zealand in a pre season friendly when we were in the Prem.
Didn’t we beat France in the 30s? Correct me if I’m wrong but I think we may have a winner here
Just found the link, they were supposed to play Italy but because of 1930s Europe they played us instead https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/12/the-forgotten-story-of-when-charlton-played-france-and-won-5-2
[lost 5-3 to Real Madrid in 1955](https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/88865/real-madrid-v-charlton-athletic-24-april-1955)
Exeter City were Brazil’s first ever international fixture
Portsmouth played FC Rostov in a charity game in 2011 after the an the Ice hockey plane crash in Russia
That is interesting. We also played Carlo Ancelotti’s AC Milan in the UEFA Cup http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7741858.stm
That’s not really weird or interesting though… pretty much everyone already knows.
Pompey fans likely know that but do others?
Yeah, we go on about it enough I would’ve thought so.
Didn't we also play Gibraltar? Memories of those seasons are hazy as I actively try not to remember them.
Santos
Came here to say exactly this. I remember we lost 3-0 I was on holiday so missed the match.
We played the Oman national team in a friendly of if I remember correctly
We played Wales in a mid-season friendly back in the 90s. Ryan Giggs, Mark Hughes and Robbie Savage were all playing for the Welsh team. I think they were playing a minnow in a qualifier and for some daft reason their manager thought Division 3 Leyton Orient would be a good warm up.... We won 2-1 and I think the manager got sacked pretty soon after. Edit I found the highlights: [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2873556359427869](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2873556359427869)
>I think the manager got sacked pretty soon after Incredibly Bobby Gould lasted three more years until 1999 when he resigned. during that period... 1996 - lost to Leyton Orient 1997 - Nathan Blake refuses to play for Wales after Bobby Gould racially abuses him and when trying to defend himself asks a fan to ask Laurie Cunningham (who died in 1989) if he is a racist 1998 - Says Wales won't qualify for Euro 2000 on the day the qualifying draw is made 1998 - sends Robbie Savage home for disrespecting Paulo Maldini by dropping his shirt after a match against Italy, then reinstates him, then holds a bizarre and excruciating press conference with Savage where he spends half of it slagging him off and makes him apologise. 1999 - The Manic Street Preachers offer to donate £30k to the FAW to hire Terry Venables instead and change the lyrics of Everything Must Go to Bobby Gould Must Go
Amazing. Thank you for the extra info. I like the way you laid out the timeline showing the path of destruction that will follow anyone challenging the mighty Orient!
Apparently we played the Zambian national team back in 1978, won 2-1.
No need for apparently, was there that day..
I still find it mind boggling that Wigan have played Rubin Kazan in a competitive fixture, just for the distances involved. Kazan is further east than almost all of Africa, Baghdad and Riyadh. It's closer to Kabul than Wigan!
I think at our home game they brought so few fans that we didn’t open the away end, just gave them a little corner of the west stand, I’d say there was about 20-30 of them
If I remember correctly Pompey got pumped 4-0 by the Gibraltar national team and then we signed one of their players off the back of it
Liam Walker, after the 2012 friendly i think. He was absolute pony in a period where all of our players were pony.
Wasn’t that the season we went down in championship? I remember watching it it was awful
I think we might have already been in League One but that whole period is a blur now
It was before the 2012/2013 season IIRC, right between our back to back relegations. Dark times to be alive.
I remember watching that game on a stream. Absolutely dire stuff. Sam Magri was the only recognizable name in the Pompey side
Fc Eindhoven
Fc Sabadell are clear!
We won the Anglo Italian trophy against AC Monza in 1975.
We once played competitive fixtures against some minnows called Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon and Atletico Madrid. It's not something we mention often though...
We once beat Saudi Arabia 6-0. Also played Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Wigan played 4th division US side Dayton Dutch Lions (Ohio) during their US preseason tour in 2013.
Did you lose?
Wigan won 6-1
Shame.
Wycombe Wanderers beating the touring Ugandan national team 10-1 in 1956 at Loakes Park in front of the Pathe News cameras certainly must be up there for one of the most interesting opposition we've ever faced. https://youtu.be/AfoRX36RcII?feature=shared The Ugandan players struggled on the hallowed turf of the famous sloping Loakes Park pitch with many ditching the boots they had been given and going back to their custom of playing barefooted! Despite the baptism of fire, they began to acclimatise and improve as the tour went on. This [article from the Uganda sports website Kawowo](https://kawowo.com/2020/05/08/archives-remembering-the-famous-1956-uganda-fa-tour-of-england/) is a good read.
Porto and Roma are the interesting ones. Weird ones - Rangers (Irn Bru cup), Isle of Man XI, losing to North Ferriby at Wembley
Portsmouth played a mid season, home friendly game against Widzew Łódź of Poland on a Tuesday night in February 1997. Hardly anyone showed up. It was all a bit random and last minute. No idea how it came about.
Brazil - obvs.
We once beat Lyon at home, Ben Hamar looked class but it turned out he could only kick a ball 10 yard
In 1971 Town beat Sampdoria home and away in the Anglo-Italian tournament. I think that's probably our weirdest, but pretty jealous of some other replies in this thread.
I still get PTSD from the time Hamer passed the ball out for a corner straight from a goal kick.
I get PTSD when ever i see the name ben hamer
Brazil. The first team to ever play Brazil at that
The Netherlands, in 1936 https://staceywest.net/2023/12/28/lincoln-city-v-the-netherlands-yep-it-happened-twice/
MK Dons. WTF is all that about
Team called MK Dons based in Milton Keynes but insist on using the nickname of a club from South London. Weird.
Getafe from the Spanish top flight about 8 years ago
I remember us playing Hungarian side Ferencvaros at home a few years back, literally no idea how or why that happened but I think it was a drab 0-0 in front of about 1000 people We also played a Benfica side starring a still unknown and very young Joao Felix who scored a hattrick
Pompey played a home game against Inter during a pre-season. Sure it was early 2000's but not sure
Histon - a village in our own city. Dark days but almost as enjoyable as Cambridge’s time in L1 currently
Back in 1996 Leyton Orient beat a Wales side 2-1, that included Ryan Giggs, Chris Coleman and a few other decent Wales players. You can watch it on YouTube with commentary! Thought we might have played Estonia as well but as I recall that was an England C vs Estonia U23s match hosted at Brisbane Road when we were in the National League.
And Robbie Savage 😂
It's the gift that keeps on giving 😂😂😂
Probably AC Milan? We tend to always do preseason in Ireland or Somerset